Review: 'Girls' Is Funny, Fresh and Wholly Worth Watching

Woman cannot live on cosmos alone. A decade after "Sex and the City" strutted on screen, television's got a new female-driven show poised to change how we think and talk about sex: "Girls," which premiered on HBO Sunday night.

The show's been compared to "Sex and the City" no less than a million times. Yes, "Girls" also revolves around four young women and yes, they talk about sex and engage in it a lot. But while "Sex and the City" was overtly aspirational (how did Carrie have that sprawling apartment on a freelance writer's salary, again?) you couldn't pay anyone to spend a day in these girls' (decidedly not designer) shoes. Borderline date rape on a dirty futon? Thanks, I'll pass.

That's what makes this show so refreshing. Despite the fact that you don't want to live in their universe, you want to be friends with this coterie of funny, naive, and woefully misguided women, or at least shepherd them along to a place where they're not stealing the $20 tip their parents left for housekeeping, as Hannah (the brilliant Lena Dunham) does at the end of Sunday's episode.

Dunham, who created and directed the show with the help of executive producer Judd Apatow, makes this show shine. Her character tells her parents that she may be the voice of her generation, or at least "a voice of a generation," and that distinction has been attached to Dunham, 25, by many media outlets. It's true that she tells the story of entitled 20-somethings in a way that no one has before. But that title makes it seem like "Girls" only appeals to that demographic, and that's not true. Whether or not you're a girl, this touching and hilarious show is worth watching, with or without a can of PBR (it's the new cosmopolitan).